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Mapping the News, Media and Journalism Landscape: Research report

This report showcases the findings from research conducted for the Future News Pilot Fund.

In this report, we explore the news, media and journalism landscape using multiple datasets. We find:

  • Journalism-related employment in the UK is very geographically concentrated. Despite a notable decline in the past decade, newspaper publishing remains the largest employer in the sector (in absolute numbers).
  • News and Journalism make up a small fraction of nonprofit activity in the UK (less than 1 per cent), and although projects and initiatives are spread throughout the UK, London remains a hub of activity.
  • Academic research on misinformation and disinformation has grown in both scale and scope since 2016 when the focus shifted from medicine towards politics, internet privacy, and fake news.
  • A small but growing number of public interest news companies are adopting emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain.
  • Relative to other countries, the UK is under-specialised in ‘inclusive news’ (news relating to underserved or marginalised groups).
  • Our analysis showed gaps in the data. More work is needed to collect and make available robust data on the news, media and journalism landscape within the UK.
  • More research is needed to understand what these trends mean for democracy and for the strength of institutions.

You can explore these findings in more detail in our online data visualisation.

Authors

Adeola Otubusen

Adeola Otubusen

Adeola Otubusen

Junior Data Scientist, Data Analytics Practice

Adeola is a Junior Data Scientist in the Innovation Mapping team.

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George Richardson

George Richardson

George Richardson

Head of Data Science, Data Analytics Practice

George is Head of Data Science in Nesta’s Data Analytics Practice.

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Konstantinos Stathoulopoulos

Konstantinos Stathoulopoulos

Konstantinos Stathoulopoulos

Principal Researcher, Innovation Mapping

Konstantinos worked as a Principal Researcher on Nesta's Research Analysis and Policy team.

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Juan Mateos-Garcia

Juan Mateos-Garcia

Juan Mateos-Garcia

Director of Data Analytics Practice

Juan Mateos-Garcia was the Director of Data Analytics at Nesta.

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